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MINUTES OF THE 25th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
ON FRIDAY 24th
AUGUST 2018
AT KÖNIGSHOFF
HOTEL, KÖNIGSLUTTER
INTRODUCTION
The meeting, attended
by 54 members, honorary members and German guests, was
opened at 1700 hrs by the Chairman, Rod Goddard. He
welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced
himself and the Committee:
- President:
Gen Tim Inshaw CB
- Chairman:
Rod Goddard MBE
- Treasurer:
John Rosson (absent from the meeting)
- Secretary:
Charlie and Jud Charlesworth
- “Our
Man in Germany”: John Richardson
APOLOGIES
The Chairman read out
apologies from those who had been unable to attend the
reunion: Clive Sanders, Keith Middleton, Mike Miller,
Harvey Grainger, Jim Hardy, Bob Wells, Mick Sposito,
Dave Street, Peter Ellis, Rusty Rosson and Tom Perkin.
MINUTES OF THE 24th ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING
The Chairman
presented the minutes of the 24th Annual
General Meeting to the meeting. Ted Roberts proposed
and Robin Seaward seconded, that the minutes were a
true reflection of proceedings at that meeting.
MATTERS ARISING
Three Langeleben
Facebook pages are currently in operation and it was
thought that three was perhaps confusing. After
discussion it was agreed that the Association would be
unable to close down other Facebook pages even if it
wanted to and that things should stay as they were.
TREASURER’S REPORT
In the absence of the
Treasurer, John Rosson, the Secretary, Charlie
Charlesworth presented the financial statements for
2017. The opening balance had been £3,973.71 and the
closing balance stood at £5,704.96. The financial
transactions up to 8 August 2018 were also presented,
with the balance standing at £5,484.37. See
footnote 1.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
The Secretary,
Charlie Charlesworth reported that in the year 2017
and to date eight members of the Association had
passed away: Bill Hogg, George Crellan, Derek Fowler,
Chris Sinnett, Tom Daly, Robbie Burns, Steven Haynes,
and Taff Smith. Respects to these fallen comrades was
not carried out during the meeting in the usual
fashion, as they would be remembered during the course
of the Memorial Stone Re‑dedication Ceremony taking
place the following day.
He reported that the
Association had gained five new members: Gary Melding
(attending), Peter Thompson, Bill Owens, Ron Stephen
(attending), and Paul Cullum. Those in attendance were
formally welcomed. It was reported that current
membership stood at 449 members.
To
comply with the new General Data Protection Regulations or GDPR
all of the membership had been contacted: 390
e-mails and 142 letters, asking people to return a
form give their consent for the Reunion
Association to hold their personal data. The
response had been a relatively disappointing 39%
of the membership. The Secretary urged those
present who had not yet responded to the GDPR
request to do so at the end of the meeting. He
also stressed that, for those who had not
responded with their consent to hold their data,
their details would need to be deleted from the
database and would result in the Association being
unable to contact them personally, and unable to
forward to them the Listening Post.
The Secretary then
went on to thank:
- The
anonymous donor (present at the meeting) of the
commemorative ties for his generosity as a result
of which £1,229.81 had been raised thus far.
- Tom
Perkin for his continued running of the website.
- Marlene
Brooks for producing and editing the Listening
Post at least three times a year. He also informed
those present that if anyone had a problem with
the Members Forum they should contact Marlene.
- John
Richardson for all that he does on behalf of the
membership to enable the smooth running of the
reunions in Germany.
ELECTION OF
OFFICERS
The Chairman, and
Secretary had indicated a willingness to continue to
serve in those posts and, as there were no new
nominations for either post, the proposal that they
should continue for a further year was carried.
The Treasurer,
through the Chairman, had indicated his desire to hand
over the role but would continue if no volunteer was
forthcoming. When no-one from those present expressed
a desire to volunteer Gen Tim asked the membership to
think seriously about this vital role and put
themselves forward at a later date.
2018 25TH ANNIVERSARY
ARRANGEMENTS
“Our
Man in Germany” John Richardson gave comprehensive
details of all the timings and logistics for the
weekend. Bob Weeks volunteered to carry the
Königslutter Standard on the parade for the
Memorial Stone Rededication Ceremony, and Robin
Seaward accepted the suggestion, by Dennis Weir,
that he give a short speech, on behalf of the
Reunion Association, at the Schützenfest the
following evening.
HORST FUNKE
ADDRESS
Herr Horst Funcke
again welcomed the Reunion Association to Königslutter
and presented the President with a very nice coloured
glass Königslutter crest as a memento of the weekend.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Mrs Ilona Hawxwell
highlighted that some of the membership were not as
computer literate as others and asked that, if
anything was posted to the Reunion Facebook page it
also be posted onto the Langeleben website. She also
requested that people consider how they communicate
and suggested that any attachments be sent as PDF
files and not Word or Excel.
Jud Charlesworth
reported that it had become apparent that the families
of deceased members really appreciated the presence of
the Langeleben Standard and/or Coffin Drape at their
funerals. She proposed that the Standard and/or Coffin
Drape be made available to the families of all
deceased members should they so desire. After some
debate the proposal was accepted unanimously in
principle, however the practicalities of insurance,
shipping and payment and an appropriate standard
bearer to carry the standard properly would still have
to be ironed out before this could be properly put
into action.
On behalf of the
membership Mr Ken Vipond extended a vote of thanks to
Mrs Ilona Hawxwell and Mrs Hicken for their commitment
to keeping the Memorial Stone clean and in good order.
The Chairman
announced that the 26th Reunion would take
place from 23-24 August 2019 at Burleigh Court,
Loughborough (the same weekend as the Shützenfest in
Langeleben). He suggested that some entertainment for
the Saturday might be appropriate and paid for from
Association Funds. The membership agreed. See
footnote 2.
There being no
further business, the meeting closed at 1800 hrs.
Chairman:
………………………………………………. Date: ………………………………
Footnotes
1. Following the 25th reunion
celebrations and payments of local expenses the
balance stands at £3,982.70.
2. As the proposed 2019 reunion dates clashed with
that of the Langeleben Shützenfest (and some members
would like to attend both) the Committee has made
the decision to move the 2019 Reunion UK date. This
had resulted in the Burleigh Court venue becoming too
expensive and a new venue had to be sought. Both
details to be confirmed.
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